A CANDLE and a joss-stick were burning side by side in the two
niches of a wall. Each was conveying a message to the wold in the
process of burning. The candle with its mild light and the
joss-stick with its sweet perfume.
One day the elegant white candle cried out saucily to the thin,
black joss-stick, “You are so dark and thin and ugly, nobody would
ever think of looking at you twice!”
The joss-stick held its peace. Its silence provoked the candle to
words of greater insolence. “You don’t seem to possess even the wit
to answer me. I see that ugliness isn’t your only drawback.”
There came gust of wind and puffed out the candle even as its
boastful words were being uttered, leaving behind only an unpleasant
smell.
The joss-stick glowed on, content to spread its fragrance. Its
Supreme Virtue was Contentment.